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Vol 59 No 5

Published 9th March 2018


Burkina Faso

New jihadist alliance strikes

The Islamist attack on the French embassy and military HQ in Ouagadougou left many asking questions about poor security

The 2 March terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou left the wall outside the French embassy riddled with bullet holes, partly wrecked the building of the État-major général des armées (EMGA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff) with a car bomb, and killed at least 16 people. The announcement claiming responsibility by Jamaat Nusrat ul Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) the following Sunday sounded a triumphant note. It said the attacks were in response to the 14 February killing of six JNIM operatives in northern Mali by the French anti-terror mission Opération Barkhane, among them Mohamed Ould Anoui. Anoui had led two prior operations claimed by Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI): the January 2016 attack in central Ouagadougou that left 30 dead in and the beach shootings in Grand Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire, which killed 19 the following March.

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